Grant: Project Grant

The introduction of oral contraceptives, or "the pill", has not only been a milestone in terms of birth control, but its use has important benefits to women's health. In particular, using the pill is known to reduce the risk of ovarian cancer, which is the most deadly of the cancers that occur only in women. The pill has led to the introduction of other methods of birth control, including new choices in intrauterine devices, or "IUDs". IUDs are now the recommended first choice of birth control methods for woman of all ages, and its use is increasing globally. However, this has led to reduced use of the pill. The findings from past studies do not give a clear idea of whether the use of IUDs is associated with ovarian cancer risk. Also, most past studies have not examined all the types of IUDs that are available today. We will conduct a large, population-based study using data from the United Kingdom on primary medical care, hospitalization, and cancer and death registrations to examine whether IUD use, when compared with use of the pill, affects the development of ovarian cancer. We will also examine whether there may be differences by type of IUD. Ovarian cancer is a cancer of critical importance to women's health, given its high fatality. This project will help in understanding if the increasing use of IUDs, with lower use of the pill, may have an impact on how many people get ovarian cancer. The results will also provide information that women may use when making choices in birth control methods.